CUBA
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Christopher
Columbus landed on the island of Cuba on October 28, 1492, on his initial westward
voyage. In honor of the daughter of Ferdinand V and Isabella I of Spain, his
benefactors, Columbus named it first Juana but later Fernandina, two of
several names he successively applied to the island. It eventually became
known as Cuba, from its aboriginal name, Cubanascnan. The island was a
Spanish colony from 1511 - 1898. After the Spanish-American War it was an
independent United States Protectorate from 1902-1934. Since then it is an
independent republic. |
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In 1516,
one year after the foundation of Havana in 1515, a coat of arms was granted
to the Island as a result of a request of Don Pánfilo de Narváez to the Royal
Council of Castilla. [1] It is as follows:
Arms: Per fess: 1. The Virgin Mary
standing on a globe and surrounded by clouds and four seraphim in orle in
chief; 2. A rider swinging a spear before a wooded mountain at the sinister,
in chief the letters I, F and C. Crown: A mural crown with five
battlements Order:
The emblem of the Order of the Fleece pending from a ribbon. Supporters: The yoke and the bundle of arrows
of the Most Catholic Kings. Compartment: Two alligators. |
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In the
time of the colony, when Cuba was under the Castilian crown, the arms of the kingdom of Castilla and
Leon was used. This consisted of a quarterly of Castilla and Leon, crowned
with the royal crown an surrounded by the Order of the Fleece. Amongst
others this was sculptured above the entrance of the Castillo del Morro in
Havana:
Photo
N.N. After the
abolition of the kingdom of Castilla and Leon by Philip V (1709), these arms
were replaced by the royal arms of Spain. In the
nineteenth century this was of a quarterly of Castilla, Leon, Aragon, Navarra
enté en point of Granada with an escutcheon of Bourbon. |
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Immediately
after the surrender to the USA, the Spanish heraldic symbols were replaced by
the seal, the flag and the arms of the United States. These were used until 1902
when a US protectorate was established. |
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From the
beginning of the nineteenth century many Cubans rebelled against the Spanish
government. By 1848 Narciso López, a Venezolan soldier began to conspire with
Cubans who advocated the annexation of the island to the United States.
López’s conspiracy, known as the “Cuban Rose Mine, contemplated an uprising
in several parts of Cuba. The scheme failed, many of the conspirators were
arrested, and López fled to the United States. There
López resumed his conspiratorial activities and organized an expedition with
the support of southern leaders. In 1850 he sailed from New Orleans and
overwhelmed the small Spanish force and captured the town. But finding little
support from the population and faced with Spanish reinforcements, López
retreated and again escaped to the United States. In 1851,
López landed in Pinar del Río. He found little support and was soon defeated
and captured by the Spanish army. He was publicly garroted in Havana on Sept.
1, 1851.” It is said that López, as the provisional Chief of
State of Cuba, sealed official documents and bonds issued by him between 1850
and 1851, with a coat of arms inspired by an original sketch published in
1849 in the La Verdad newspaper, directed by Miguel Teurbe Tolón in New York.
This probably showed a rising sun above a strait, closed by a key (borrowed
from the arms of the city of Havana). A coat of
arms for Cuba was seen by Ramón Roa (Cuban freedom fighter, *1844-†1912) in
1860 in a tobacco-shop on Broadway in New York. He states that this coat of
arms was painted by Tolón. It expresses the ambition of Lopéz of the
annexation of Cuba by the United States. On it the rising sun and strait
motif is reduced to the chief of a shield parted per pale, the dexter half of
the red and white stripes of the U.S.A. flag, the sinister half of a royal
palm on the shore, its crown surrounded by the thirteen stars of the first
United States. Motto: PATRIA Y LIBERTAD (Fatherland and Liberty). [2]
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On 10 October
1868, landowner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes made the Grito de Yara, the
“Cry of Yara”, declaring Cuban independence and freedom for his slaves. This
began the “Ten Years' War” which lasted from 1868 to 1878. The insurgent government adopted a
flag on 11 April 1869. It consists of five stripes blue and white and a red
triangle at the mast, charged with a white five-pointed star. This
flag, which is said to have flown for the frist time in 1850, at first was
displayed together with a seal showing the strait and the key below a five
pointed star radiant and with the legend: REPUBLICA
DE CUBA 1869.
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The same
year the coat of arms appeared, apparently inspired by the design of Tolón (1820-1857)
but changed by replacing the American stripes by the Cuban stripes and by
leaving out the American stars. Like this:
An
achievement was designed somewahat later as it is on paper money printed in
the same year. It is:
Arms: Parted per pale, the first bendy
sinister of five Azure and Argent; the second a landscape with a palmtree and
two mountains in the distance, all proper; and on a chief under a rising sun
a strait closed by a golden key, all proper. Behind
the shield was a pole with a red phrygian cap, charged with a white mullet,
between four national flags. |
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About
1874 a new version appeared which differed in that the key was reversed, the
bit of the key on the sinister and turned upwards. This version is on stamps issued
in that year. About the
same time the number of flags in the achievement was augmented to six and a
sun radiant was added behind the shield. |
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The
arms of 1897 |
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An emblem of
the Republica de Cuba is on 20 centavos and 1 peso coins dated 1888-1889. It
consists of a five-pointed star, charged with the cypher RC radiant, within
another star and is surrounded by a garland of branches of olive. On the
reverse is the national achievement consisting of a shield of the national
flag, crested with a sun radiant and surrounded by stalks of sugarcane and
tobacco.
Cuba Libre Coin 1888-98 This pattern was probably
struck by the Junta to raise funds for independence. Another cipher RC was inspired by the French
Republic when the capitol building was being built in the 1926-1929. [3] It consists of a fasces with phrygian cap,
charged with the cypher RC and surrounded by a garland of oak
The
present achievement was introduced 1898 on a silver 1 Peso coin. The legend
reads: REPUBLICA DE CUBA UN PESO 900
FINO. On the reverse
is the allegorical ladies ‘Head of Cuba’ and the legend PATRIA Y LIBERTAD 1898.
In this version
the key is in its original position. The sun behind the shield was replaced
by a fasces with phrygian cap, charged with a five-pointed star, and the
flags by a garland of oak and laurel. After the
Spanish troops had left the island in December 1898, the government of Cuba
was handed over to the United States on 1 January 1899. The first governor
was General John R. Brooke. Unlike Guam, Puerto Rico, and the
Philippines, the
United States did not annex Cuba. In 1901 a Constitution was promulgated and
in 1902 the United States handed over control to an independent Cuban
government. In 1906
the achievement of 1898 was adopted by Presidential decree of President Don
Tomas Estrada Palma. It was published in the Gaceta Oficial of the 6th of
January 1906. Even when
the status of the republic has changed several times since then, the
achievement has remained the same. ð See illustration in the head of
this essay. The
national coat of arms of Cuba represents the Island in the Caribbean on which
it is situated. The chief symbolizes
the position of Cuba between the two Americas and the place of Cuba as “The
Key of the New World”, the link between America and Europe and North- and
South America. The sun symbolizes the rising of a new nation. The five bends
sinister represent the five departments of the island in the time of Spanish supremacy. In its lower left field
appears a rural landscape, symbolizing the plain and natural environment,
characterizd by the typical Cuban
royal palmtree, with its central leave bud pointing up, symbolizing the
strong character of the Cuban people. [4] The arms
were confirmed for the last time in 1984 by Law
n° 42: CAPITULO
IV DEL
ESCUDO DE LA PALMA REAL SECCION
PRIMERA Del
Escudo ARTICULO 12 - El escudo es el símbolo de la nación que está formado por dos
arcos de círculos iguales, que se cortan volviendo la concavidad el uno al otro,
como una adarga ojival. Está partido hasta los dos tercios de su altura, por
donde lo divide una línea horizontal. Se compone de tres espacios o
cuarteles: en el superior representa un mar, a cuyos lados, derecho e
izquierdo existen frente uno de otro, dos cabos o puntas terrestres entre los
cuales, cerrando el estrecho que forman, se extiende de izquierda a derecha,
una llave de vástago macizo con la palanca hacia abajo y a cuyo fondo, un sol
naciente esparce sus rayos por todo el cielo del paisaje. En el cuartel o
espacio inferior de su derecha hay cinco bandas, situadas. alternativamente,
de un mismo ancho, de color azul turquí y blanco, siendo la azul la más alta
e inclinadas todas de Izquierda a derecha. En el cuartel o espacio inferior
de su izquierda, figura un paisaje representando un. valle, en medio del cual
se alza una palma real con el botón de su hoja central en lo más alto,
elevándose rectamente, teniendo al fondo en perspectiva dos montañas y
ligeros celajes. El escudo está soportado por un haz de varas, cuyo extremo
inferior, unido por una banda estrecha de color rojo cruzada en equis,
sobresale por debajo del vértice de la ojiva. Por arriba sobresale por la
parte central del jefe del escudo, encontrándose en este extremo el haz de
varas unido por una banda circular estrecha de color rojo. La corona del haz
de varas está cubierta por un gorro frigio de color rojo vuelto hacia la
derecha, el que está sostenido por una de las varas que sobresale
ligeramente. El gorro tiene en su parte central una estrella blanca de cinco
puntas, una de ellas orientada hacia arriba. Sin exceder de las puntas de los
extremos derecho e izquierdo de los arcos del escudo, hay dos ramas que lo
orlan, una de laurel a su izquierda y otra de encina a su derecha, vueltas
hacia el mismo y que se entrecruzan en el extremo inferior del escudo, detrás
del haz de varas. ARTICULO 13-El escudo puede ser usado por los órganos, organismos del Estado, o
instituciones oficiales y sus representantes, tal como queda establecido en el
Reglamento de esta Ley. SECCION
SEGUNDA Del
Sello de la República ARTICULO 14 - El “Sello de la República”, se forma con el escudo situándosele
en una circunferencia que lleva dentro de una orla superior el lema
“República de Cuba” y en otra contrapuesta, el nombre del órgano, organismo o
de la institución oficial de que se trate. ARTICULO 15 - Con el “Sello de la República” se forma el “Gran Sello de la
República”, que solamente se estampa en los documentos internacionales que
autorice con su firma el Presidente del Consejo de Estado y Jefe de Gobierno,
y en los demás en que así se disponga legalmente,.... The arms have been confirmed for the last time by Law no. 128, which
repealed Law no. 42. |
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In the time
of Spanish rule the achievement of the Spanish Army in Cuba consisted of the
crowned coat of arms of Spain with a trophy as supporters.
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At the
surrender of Cuba by the Spaniards in 1898 a flag was captured showing the Castilla-Leon
quarterly, enté en point and with an
escutcheon of Bourbon. This was the arms of the Spanish garrison in Cuba. Before
the revolution of 1959 the achievement of the Cuban Republican Army consisted
of the national arms, the garland replaced by a trophy of cannon, rifles and sabres. The cap
badge of the army consisted of this achievement surrounded by a garland of
oak and laurel |
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The achievement
of the Cuban Republican Navy consisted of a fasces with phrygian cap and two
anchors in saltire charged with the
Cuban coat of arms. 2
December 1956, marks the birth of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the
decisive protagonist of the war of national liberation that lead to the
revolutionary victory of first of January 1959. |
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The
emblem of the National Police Force consists of the republican achievement
surrounded by a legend. Before WWII the legend was CUERPO
DE POLICIA JURADA / VIGILANTE and about 1950 REPUBLICA DE CUBA /
LEALTAD AL SERVICIO.
After 1959 the legend became: POLICIA NACIONAL
REVOLUCIONARIA.
The badge
of the service consisted of a five-pointed star charged with this last
emblem, the legend reading POLICIA NACIONAL
REVOLUTIONARIA / CUBA. The present version of this badge
shows the five-pointed star charged with the fasces and arms only, surrounded
by the legend. The arms
of the service consist of a blue shield with a yellow rising sun in the
urpper half and a red map of Cuba per fess. In chief is the name of
the service and in base the word CUBA, all in white lettering. |
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Arms: Parted
per fess, the chief per pale and per chevron, the dexter Azure, the word SPES
per bend sinister Argent, the sinister Azure, a sword per bend proper, in the
base a rising sun proper; in base a
landscape, on the dexter a mill, in base point a plow and on the sinister a
cow, seperated by two roads; and two palmtrees over all. Supporter: A
fasces with a cap of liberty gules, charged with a white mullet. Garland:
Branches of olive proper |
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Arms: Azure,
in chief a key per fess and in base a bee, Or. Crown: A mural
crown with five towers Or. Garland: Two
branches of olive proper |
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Arms: Parted
per fess, in chief a landscape showing ten trees in the distance and a plow on
the forground, in the sky a mullet Or, radiant Argent; in base a landscape
with hills in the distance and a mill, a river and a tree on the forground,
all proper. Supporter: A
fasces with a cap of liberty gules, charged with a white mullet. Garland: Branches
of olive proper |
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Arms: Rising
from the sea a three-towered castle Or, connected with the shore by two
bridges spanning two estuaria, in the distanced trees and a mountain proper. Crest: A
mullet Argent. Cartouche: Or. Garland : A branch
of laurel and a branch of oak proper. Motto: PRO PATRIA in
black lettering on a red ribbon. |
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Arms: Three
mountains, in the sky a mullet radiant Argent, in base a river, all proper. Supporters: A fasces
with a cap of liberty gules, charged with a white mullet, and four Cuban
national flags in saltire. Motto: PRÆSTO PRO PATRIA in
black lettering on a blue ribbon. |
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Arms: A landscape,
a shore in sinister base, hills in the distance, a farm an four cypresses on
the foreground; and in chief the Island of Cuba washed by the sea, on the
horizon the rising sun. Supporter: A
fasces with a cap of liberty gules, charged with a white mullet. Garland: Two tobacco-plants proper |
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See also: https://www.academia.edu/43132133/Los_escudos_civicos_de_Cuba |
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© Hubert de Vries 2010-02-05 Updated
2011-10-07; 2020-06-23
Heraldry of the World